An outspoken Malaysian architect says woodworking skill shortages have reached epidemic proportions in his country – part of a “building standards crisis” threatening the very foundation of the construction industry.
Woody biomass has a great future, but there is a strong body of expert opinion that heat, not electricity generation, is where it can be used to greatest effect – a view not well reflected in current Australasian policies, as Michael Dover reports.
Now the undisputed world leader in fast-growth plantation forestry and forest products, Brazil is also amassing impressive credentials in advanced genetics, silviculture, wood production and processing. In the first of two special reports for Inwood, regional expert Robert Donnelly establishes the background to this forestry phenomenon.
It is hard to go past the old ‘when the going gets tough’ adage when talking about the efficient sawmilling operation of Morgan and Shirley Donelley at Reporoa in New Zealand’s central North Island.
Australia’s engineered wood products industry has found a powerful ally in its fight to expose imported materials that fail to meet national structural standards, as Jim Bowden reports.
For timber processors battling to stay in the black, selecting the right machinery can make or break the business. The challenge TIMFIN Limited managing director Warwick Lee set Lakeland Steel Products 18 months ago was to build a fingerjointer that would go twice as fast as the one the company built for him back in the 90s, allowing him to go from two shifts to one without dropping production.
There is mounting evidence that the establishment of hardwood plantations in tropical Australia is being hindered by misguided planting methods and poor communication between seed suppliers and forest managers – as Jim Bowden reports.
